Walid Muallem says Syria is suffering from “Erdogan’s sights on the northern part of Syria and non-stopping support for the Islamic State, Jebhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups”.

MOSCOW, November 27. Turkey has not yet provided any evidence on the incident with the Russian Su-24M bomber, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Friday following the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

“This act of aggression is challenging Syria’s sovereignity, as the bomber was downed on the Syrian territory,” Muallem said. “Turkey has still given no distinct evidence for the incident.”

“For five years we have been suffering from the Turkish aggression, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sights on the northern part of Syria and non-stopping support for the Islamic State, Jebhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups,” Muallem said.

The Turkish Air Force’s F-16 fighter on November 24 shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber that Ankara claims violated the country’s airspace on the border with Syria. The Su-24M crew ejected but one of the two pilots was killed by fire from the ground. The second pilot was rescued as a result of a 12-hour operation. During evacuation of the Su-24M crew, a Mi-8 helicopter was lost and a contract marine was killed.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Su-24M was above Syrian territory and “there was no violation of Turkey’s airspace.” It said the Turkish Air Force fighter violated Syria’s airspace.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces said Friday that Turkey’s F-16 fighter that shot down the Russian Su-24M bomber was in Syria’s airspace for 40 seconds and went inside its territory by 2 kilometers, while the Russian bomber did not violate the Turkish state border. – TASS, Russian News Agency.